Clara meets The Doctor
by Retroreflect
Summary: Clara Oswald meets an incredible stranger, during what appears to be her final few moments.
1. 01) Trust me

**Notes from Retroreflect!**

_**Thanks for taking the time to read! This is my first ever fan fiction written, inspired purely by my adoration for Doctor Who! It's only a snippet and won't be developed any further, but I'd appreciate you letting me know what you thought! When reading, please picture the setting to be familiar to Trenzalore, and "the creatures" to resemble The Whisper Men. I hope you enjoy! I would really appreciate any feedback. Thank you!**_

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"Who are they?", Clara quickly questioned, her eyes burning with fear and curiosity, darting back and forth between the mysterious figures and the man beside her.

The man's eyes were also full of fear. It was obvious to Clara that whoever this man was, he had encountered these strange figures before, or at least recognised them.

"Old friends of mine", he whispered in a fearful tone, his eyes scanning the figures.

One of the figures starting stepping forwards, with others following.

Clara instantaneously grabbed the man's hand in fear, only realising a few seconds later. She slowly averted her gaze towards the man to see his eyes were already fixed on her. He looked calm. His eyes showed fear yet were somehow warm and reassuring.

The man turned his whole body to face Clara and gripped her hand with both of his. They were extremely cold.

"Clara Oswald. I promise you, everything is going to be OK. I'll get you out of this, safe and sound, I swear to you. But you need to trust me. This isn't going to work unless you trust me".

His voice was rushed and monotonous, with a very serious tone to it.

Clara's fears slowly seemed to fade, making room for the realisation that another fear was coming to light; She had never met this man before. He had literally just appeared in her life only a few moments ago. Now, that very same life could end at any moment.

She knew she had no choice but to trust this stranger, as not doing so may just cost her everything.

Even though knowing this man was a complete stranger to her, he somehow seemed extremely trusting and kind, as if she had known him forever. She felt as if she had betrayed herself, trusting a stranger with her life. But no matter what was to happen, she somehow truly did trust him.

Clara glanced at the figures with the corner of her eyes. She saw the shadows moving closer and quickly looked back at man. He was smiling.

"How can this man possibly be smiling right now?", she thought to herself. She looked at the man for a few more moments. It was almost as if he knew the exact thoughts she was experiencing, as if he had done this countless times already.

The man's smile grew slightly as he gave a quick nod, almost appearing to confirm the fact that he had done this countless times.

Clara continued to stare at the man.

"OK. What do I do?", she stuttered, accepting his request to be trusted.


	2. 02) You just need to fall

In an instant, as if a spell or curse had been lifted, the man dropped her hand, clapped his own together and widened his smile. He appeared to be in complete joy.

"Nothing. Nothing at all!", he exclaimed, "I'll do all the work from here. You just need to fall".

The man wrapped his arms around Clara's waist and hoisted her on to his left shoulder.

She let out a short scream from the unexpected lift and started to struggle. A wave of fear surged through every cell in her body as she recalled his last words- 'you just need to fall'.

Clara struggled further, screaming and shouting, knowing what was coming next. Through the struggle, she could see that the mysterious figures had stopped moving, and that the man appeared to be whistling an odd tune.

Even in her panic, she couldn't help but notice how impressive the man's strength and grip was. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get loose.

"This won't hurt half as much as you're expecting it to! Not at all, in fact", the man cheerfully stated, gripping his struggling captive.

Clara was terrified and immensely confused. Not long ago, she was at home cooking dinner, then the next minute, she was atop an awfully strange mountain of some sort, being chased by mysterious, shadowed creatures.

Now, she was about to be thrown to her death by a strangely joyful man, whom she had placed all of her trust and faith in to, whilst the figures that she originally believed would have been the source of her death, remained static in the distance.

Clara felt the wind picking up speed and quickly began realising that she was nearing the edge of the mountain top. Her struggling increased, but the man held his grip.

"I trusted you! Why are you doing this? Who are you?!", she screamed.

"I'm really sorry about this, Clara. I'll explain everything soon!", the man yelled back, trying to ensure he was heard over the powerful force of wind.

In an instant, Clara felt the man's grip loosen and the wind dramatically pick up speed.

She was falling.

She screamed as she plunged downwards.

"The blue one is yours!", the man yelled after her.

Clara couldn't even comprehend what the man was yelling about as she was plummeting to her death. She could not help but wonder, even in her frantic panic, what exactly had just happened. She closed her eyes and accepted her fate.

This is where her story was to end.


	3. 03) Would you trust you?

The light was blindingly bright. Clara slowly opened her eyes. She had been crying. Her throat was extremely sore too.

She felt warm and comfortable. She attempted to look beyond the light to take in her surroundings and realised that she lay in her own bed, in what appeared to be her own room. She slowly raised herself to a sitting position, her whole body aching.

Noises began coming from a distance. Clara recognised the clanging of plates from the kitchen. She froze, hearing the kitchen door close and footsteps leading down the hallway.

Her heart pumped vigorously whilst her brain furiously attempted to calculate who it could possibly be.

The footsteps seemed to get closer and began climbing the stairs. She could hear faint whistling.

A wave of terror coursed through her body as the whistling got louder. It was the same whistling she had heard from the man whom she believed had killed her. The entire event began flooding back.

Suddenly, her door crept open as a figure backed in to her room, slowly turning around to face her with a large plate stacked with jammy dodgers.

It was him.

"Clara! You're awake!", he beamed. He dropped the plate on to her bedside cabinet before grabbing her head in his hands and kissing her on her forehead.

Clara was too stunned to even react. She just gazed at this kind and joyful man who had apparently killed her just seconds previously.

He stood up straight to fix his bow tie in the mirror opposite, then glanced over at the bedside cabinet, moving closer to it.

"Ah, you've no idea how much I love these!", he expressed with happiness.

"It was either these or the rich teas. No contest", he chuckled, as he grabbed a handful of the biscuits and sat down at the end of Clara's bed.

Clara, still stunned by all that was happening, had her eyes fixed on him.

Her mouth began to move slowly.

"You…", she began, "Threw me… from that mountain? The tower?", she whispered.

The man, having already scoffed a jammy dodger with glee, looked over at Clara with a warm smile. Even though she had just been murdered by this man's hands, she still felt completely safe and reassured by his presence.

"Urm, yes. About that…", he began, "…I should apologise. A warning would have been nice, but I had to be sure it looked convincing".

The man saw that Clara's eyes were full of confusion.

He looked at her, puzzlingly.

"Do you trust me, Clara?", he asked.

His expression changed and his tone lowered slightly. His voice was not too deep a voice, though it still contained an element of authority and seriousness. Even so, he had a very warm voice.

Clara's tension disappeared. She somehow felt safe. Perhaps it was the fact that she was tucked up in her own bed, regardless of the fact that her apparent demise was sat in front of her.

"Would you?", she joked, "Would you trust the person… your killer… after placing all of your faith in them?", she questioned in an almost angry tone.

The man smiled back at her.

"That depends on whether or not I woke up afterwards, back, 'safe and sound' as promised".

Clara stared at him, stunned by how accurately truthful his unexpected answer was.

"You knew this was going to happen?", she asked, "You knew I wasn't going to die and that we'd both end up here?"

"Of course I did. I wouldn't have done it otherwise!", he chuckled.

Clara continued to stare at him, her confusion building.

"What do you mean you knew? How is that possible? And, who are you? Where did you even come from?", she questioned.

The man placed the plate of ever decreasing jammy dodgers on the ground and shifted closer to Clara.

Once again, he took her hand in his now warm hands. Ready to explain.


	4. 04) Until next time?

"OK. We've met before, Clara", the man began, as Clara listened intently, knowing she was about to get some answers.

"I'm from your future. I'm a time traveller. Something terrible happened in my own future and I was forced to come back here to save you. You entered a dangerous world through a dreamstate. The difference is, this dream was very, very real. Anything could have happened".

Clara went cold just thinking about it all again. She continue to listen intently. She was intrigued, confused and slightly scared, like a small child hearing their first ghost story.

"I needed to remove you from the dreamstate without making it known to those creatures, which is why I couldn't warn you of my actions. When a person dies in a dream, the human survival instinct kicks in to action and the body is forced to wake. I also needed to gain your complete trust since it was your dream, otherwise the dreamstate would never have been broken".

The man paused for a moment, his eyes looking slightly downwards in sadness.

"Those creatures are my problem. Very old, and very dangerous enemies of mine. They came for you at a point in your own timeline to try and get to me".

He began stroking Clara's hair from her eyes.

"I'm sorry for putting you in danger, Clara. You'll know more when we meet properly, I promise".

The man got to his feet and stepped towards the bedroom door.

"I know it's a lot for you to take in, Clara. Real dreams with monsters, time travel, and a mysterious man in your house. It all sounds very fairy tale. Or maybe even horror story, come to think of it".

He stared out of the bedroom's window at the clear day's sky. Clara's eyes were still fixed on this strange man.

"I'm assuming I can't know any more since it's all from my future then?", Clara asked.

The man slowly nodded.

"Fore-knowledge is dangerous", he muttered.

Clara's eyes widened as she recalled a burning question she had for him.

"Wait a minute! You still haven't told me who you are!", she exclaimed as she threw back the covers and hopped out of bed.

The man didn't answer.

Clara stood next to him, staring up at him expecting an answer. The man slowly looked at her again, their eyes meeting. His eyes were warm and young, yet looked so cold and so old. He looked happy and full of a burning sorrow, all at once.

Clara felt it, and gave him a small smile. He smiled back.

She could not help but wonder who this amazing, yet, strange man was. She felt as though she had known him forever, as if he was an enormous part of her that was missing somehow.

The man suddenly clapped his hands together and perked up again, breaking Clara's trail of thought.

"OK!", he cheerfully exclaimed," I need to get going".

He briskly walked towards the door. He turned to look back at Clara, who was still fixated on him in complete disbelief at all she had been told. Even so, she felt very content as she smiled at the mysteriously cheerful stranger, whom she had noticed had a rather handsome look about him. His floppy, brown hair and odd dress sense was bizarre, but nice, in its own strange way.

"Stay safe, get to work on time, and for God's sake, turn on the heating in here, it's freezing!", he chuckled, as he let out a wink.

"Until next time then?", Clara asked.

"Until next time", the man confirmed with a smile.

Clara showed a large, excited smile.

"Wait!", she demanded, "Just one more thing. You told me that what you did in that dream wouldn't have worked if I did not completely trust you, right? Meaning I'd be dead, for real?"

"Yes. That's right", he smiled, knowing which question was to follow.

"How did you know I trusted you? I could have been lying?", she questioned.

The man slowly moved closer to Clara and put his hand on her head, slowly ruffling her long, brown hair.

"Oh, Clara", he said softly, "I always know".

Clara looked up at him with a smile, feeling impressed by his confidence.

The man headed for the door again before quickly spinning around, pointing behind Clara.

"Ah! Don't forget your tea. It'll be cold soon", he chuckled.

"What tea?", Clara giggled, as she peered around to find it.

Suddenly, she heard the front door slam. She whipped her head back around towards the bedroom door to see the doorway was now empty. She ran to the window, only to see the man slowly walking away towards a strange blue box.

She watched as the man entered the blue box. He peered back at here through her bedroom windows, before shutting the door. The box slowly started disappearing, followed by an ominous, groaning sound.

In complete awe and with wide eyes, she slowly stepped back to her bed and sat on the edge, smiling to herself. Looking to her right, she saw two mugs, one of which was her favourite dark blue and light blue spotted mug, filled with tea. It was her favourite mug.

Still smiling, she lifted the mug, noticing a small piece of paper placed underneath. She picked up the paper as she sipped what was possibly the best mug of tea she had ever tasted, reading-

"Blue is my favourite colour too".

It was signed- "The Doctor".


End file.
